


Shifts in Perception

by A Magiluna Stormwriter (ariestess)



Category: Practical Magic (1998)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-01
Updated: 2013-05-01
Packaged: 2017-12-10 02:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/780536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariestess/pseuds/A%20Magiluna%20Stormwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has been a year since Maria's Curse broke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shifts in Perception

**Author's Note:**

  * For [malinaldarose (coralysendria)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coralysendria/gifts).



> More in-depth notes to come.

My darling Ethan,

It has been a year since Maria's Curse broke. The wheel of the year has turned once again and we are back to Halloween. Oh, how I wish you could be here to celebrate with us, my darling.

It has been a fascinating year, to say the least. Jet and I have moved our little spells and hexes business out of the house. Well, not entirely out of the house. Gary built a lovely little cottage on the grounds for us to set up shop in. I swear I mentioned that to you in a previous letter, but I honestly can't be sure at the moment. It's of little matter as I'm choosing to tell you about it now. Anyway, Sally offered to let us use part of her store for our workings, but we've never done that before. Sally is the first Owens woman to have any sort of business in town. We've always worked out of this house, as well you should remember.

So when we politely declined, Gary took it upon himself to build a little one room cottage. No, I suppose it's more like a bungalow really, but it resembles the house enough to look like it should be here. We've moved everything that we use for our workings there, things we want to keep separate from the house itself. I wasn't sure Jet would like it initially, or myself for that matter, simply because we've always worked in the house with the spirits of our ancestresses there like guiding hands on what we do. It was a little strange for the first day or two, before anyone came to see us, but the minute we began our first spell, it felt _right_. It was like we'd been in that bungalow doing this our entire lives. You have no idea how wonderful it feels to have Jetty's knowing girlish giggles filling the air around us like it does when we're in the bungalow.

Gary truly has become a godsend to this family of ours. He and Sally fall more and more in love with each passing day. She grudgingly accepts the gentle teasing from Jet and myself about her impossible love spell, face glowing with love the entire time. Oh, darling Ethan, it eases the ache in my own heart to see how full and open hers is now. She was happy with Michael, don't get me wrong, but that spell was not of her own choosing. The one that brought Gary into her life was, and she knows it. It was the final impetus for her to accept the Owens magical birthright into her life again. She's allowed Kylie and Antonia to begin learning about their heritage.

Interestingly enough, Kylie is proving to be the natural witch of the two of them, proving to me that it changes hair color with each generation. Jet always did have the intrinsic, inborn talent between the two of us. Not that I'm a slouch, as well you should remember, but she just _knows_ how to do things and when. Sally's mother was the same way before she gave it up to be a wife and mother. Sally followed in her mother's footsteps in so many ways. Thankfully she was able to return to the family fold, rather than die of a broken heart.

The best part of Sally's return to the Owens family is that she and Gary are expecting a child. If I'm doing my math correctly, it'll be a late winter or early spring baby. She denies it all she wants, but that baby was conceived in the Beltane rites last year. That she and Gary were on their honeymoon at the time is simply a side benefit. Sally was quite adamant about marrying during the Beltane rites, which means she probably knew subconsciously that she would get pregnant. Not that Gary doesn't love Kylie and Antonia as if they were his own, because he dotes on them utterly. But I think it's good that they have a child together. It will help restore so much of Sally's faith in herself and her family's love.

Of course, the fact that Gillian has chosen to stay is also a big part of that. She splits her time between Sally's shop and helping us here in the bungalow. She has grown in so many ways. I hate to admit that there are aspects of her personality that remind me of myself at her age and younger. Thankfully for Gillian, it didn't take the death of her love to temper her wanderlust. No, that's not quite true, is it? As toxic a being as he was, Jimmy was… Well, I'm not sure exactly what he was other than a lesson in what not to do for love. He wasn't love to her, she said that to me recently. After seeing what love is like with Sally and Gary, Gillian knows that she never truly had that before. I hope she finds the man that completes her. She deserves it. Or, maybe like Jetty, she just doesn't have such a person. Jet's always been happier by herself, helping others. Gillian's path is still a bit unclear, and that's okay.

How I wish you could be here to see what this family is like now, Ethan. It is the most beautiful thing. I haven't seen this house so full of love since before you passed away from this realm. And the fact that everyone in town accepts us? I never thought I'd live to see the day. Jetty always believed it would happen in the depths of her heart. But I think that sense of trust and goodness is intrinsically bound with that innate magical ability. She has it, Sally has it, and Kylie has it. It balances out the more cynical, practical side that Gillian, Antonia, and I have inherited from our ancestresses. Clearly both sides come from Maria, but I've no idea when the split occurred. I suppose it doesn't really matter, does it?

Well, my darling Ethan, I must close this now. I can hear Antonia trying to sneak up the stairs to my tower getaway above the attic, which means that it's getting to be time for us to entertain the townsfolk with our levitating trick from the roof. I haven't yet changed into the silly, clichéd witchy garb with the striped socks. We all wear them. Well, Gary doesn't, but he's staying down on the ground again. I've no idea if Sally will heed wisdom and keep her feet planted firmly or if she'll follow in Maria's footsteps and flaunt convention with the rest of us.

Not a day goes by that I don't think of you, my darling Ethan.

Until we meet again.

All my love,  
Franny


End file.
